Microsoft buys Activision, maker of Diablo, Warcraft, and Call of Duty, for $69 billion

United Kingdom regulators were effectively the last hurdle stopping Microsoft from purchasing Activision Blizzard, in the biggest merger the video game industry has ever seen. That hurdle was cleared this morning as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority relented to adjusted terms. With the nearly $70 billion purchase now officially complete, Microsoft unveiled a victory blog post, complete with an extended showcase of its now-combined intellectual property with Activision, Blizzard, and King. The CMA’s sticking points included Microsoft’s prospective dominance in the unfolding game streaming market, and Microsoft’s concessions were deep. When it initially blocked the merger early this year, regulators said that the combined publishing giant could effectively monopolize games streamed to consumers without the need for local PCs or consoles, as is already the case with Xbox Game Stream and the all-you-can-eat Game Pass subscription. Microsoft’s concessions to the UK include a block on exclusivity for cloud streaming for all existing Activision games, crucially including the massive Call of Duty shooter franchise. The block will continue for 15 years, with streaming rights sold (or surrendered, depending on your point of view) to French mega-publisher Ubisoft. Significantly, this will allow Call of Duty to be streamed to players on the PlayStation for the foreseeable future. With the UK and EU obstacles out of the way, the United States Federal... Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2023-10-13 14:10:14 UTC ]
News tagged with: #foreseeable future #video games #publishing giant

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KKR Closes Deal to Buy Simon & Schuster

The process of selling Simon & Schuster has been long and tumultuous, and was waylaid by an earlier antitrust suit. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-10-31 02:10:51 UTC ]
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World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event and Call for Peace

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[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-30 20:47:30 UTC ]
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Why this AI pioneer is calling for 'human centered' computing

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-10-20 14:00:28 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-10-19 13:53:46 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-10-19 11:00:20 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-10-13 11:35:41 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Fast Company | 2023-09-28 14:15:00 UTC ]
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[ PC World | 2023-09-18 14:49:58 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-09-01 06:02:22 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Wired | 2023-08-26 14:23:52 UTC ]
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[ PC World | 2023-08-24 20:21:37 UTC ]
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[ Engadget | 2023-08-18 18:27:01 UTC ]
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[ Advertising Age | 2023-08-17 14:00:00 UTC ]
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[ CBC | 2023-08-08 18:39:04 UTC ]
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